Sexual Abuse in Childhood Linked to Food Addiction Among Women

A new study conducted by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital suggests that women who are physically and sexually abused during their childhood were more likely to suffer from food addiction in their adulthood.

The researchers used data from the Nurses' Health Study II which involved more than 57,300 women. The researchers found that those who were either physically or sexually abused in their childhood were 90 percent more likely to suffer from food addiction as adults while the combination of physical and sexual abuse was linked with a 2.4 times increase with binge eating.

"Our findings suggest that women with a history of childhood abuse are more likely to report engaging in these uncontrolled, addiction-like eating behaviors, and we also found that the harsher the abuse they experienced, the stronger the association", the researchers wrote in their report.

The study has been published in the journal Obesity.

Source: Medindia